To blog or not to blog seems to be a question many small business owners and entrepreneurs seem to ask themselves on a regular basis. Will blogging actually help your marketing and branding efforts? Will it assist, and even boost, your SEO strategy? There has been plenty of recent research done that gets a handle on business blogging and how effective it really can be to your marketing program. The following stats were assembled from all over and recently published by SimpleMarketing:
- 36% of the Fortune 500 are using their blogs for thought leadership, product promotion and engagement. 7 million people publish blogs on blogging websites, and another 12 million write blogs via their social networks.
- 76% of B2B marketers blog, and 73% publish case studies. (Source: Content Marketing Institute)
- Companies that blog receive 55% more traffic than companies that don’t and they have 434% more indexed pages compared to those that don’t.
- Active company blogs have 97% more inbound links than websites without blogs. (Source HubSpot)
- Active company blogs generate 67% more leads than websites without blogs. (Source HubSpot)
- B2B marketers have found blogging to be significantly more time and cost-effective than traditional lead generation methods (Source: Hubspot).
- Marketers who prioritize blogging efforts are 13x more likely to see positive ROI (Source: HubSpot
- 82% of marketers who blog consistently see positive ROI from inbound efforts (Source: HubSpot)
- Companies that implement content marketing strategies see 6x higher conversion rates than those who don’t.
- SEO leads have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound leads (such as direct mail or print advertising) have a 1.7% close rate.
- Blogs are trusted sources of information and advice say 81% of US online consumers.
- 96% of B2B buyers want content from industry thought leaders.
- 61% of US online consumers have made a purchase based on recommendations from a blog.
- 61% of US online consumers have made a purchase based on recommendations from a blog.
- In terms of which factors add credibility to a blog, 30% say quality content, 17% say good design, 15% say regular publication of content, 13% say good social media presence, and 12% say good authors.
- 62.96% say multiple authors add credibility to a blog.
- As far as which types of content add the most credibility to a blog, written articles top the list at 44.44%, ebooks are next at 19.44%, visuals and videos are next at 14.81% each.
-Written by Kevin Sawyer
